In this unique introduction to world religions, author Eric Bronson focuses on the enduring ideas embodied by a variety of faiths, and the ways in which those ideas shape the world we live in. According to sociologist Max Weber, "The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world.'" Although the pace of scientific discovery and technological innovation has increased exponentially since Weber's day, other ways of knowing persist and still have much to offer. As Bronson notes, "Enchantment is a quality in the world that fires our non-rational imagination. Enchantments trigger in us an elevated sense of excitement, fear, or curiosity.... We may be enchanted by sunsets, popular music, or other people, for example. Enchanted experiences are also instructive: they teach us things about ourselves and the world we inhabit. Therefore, 'enchanted wisdom' describes many kinds of non-rational knowledge we gain about ourselves and our world." In discussing eleven representative faiths-including global religions with hundreds of millions of adherents, like Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism, as well as the less well-known beliefs of the Navajo and the Yoruba-the author draws on a wide range of literary, musical, and other cultural references to enhance interest and understanding. The core tenets of each religion are first examined, followed by discussion of its evolution over time and contemporary manifestations. Questions at the close of each chapter direct students toward further learning, while comprehensive end-of-chapter glossaries provide a convenient summary of key people, places, and ideas. Full chapters are included on the following faiths: Hinduism - Buddhism - Daoism - Yoruba - Judaism - Christianity - Islam - Confucianism - Sikhism - Navajo - Shintoism. The text also includes an insightful introduction, 52 images, 51 boxes focusing on topics of special interest, comprehensive references, and a full index.

In Faery Seership the truths we seek can only be found within ourselves, within nature, and within our relationships to nature. At the center of the Faery Tradition lies the Tree of Enchantment: the symbol for these relationships and for the threefold life of humanity. At each level of the tree, there are attending spirit forces that vary from beings of light to beings of shadow, from the ancestors of humanity to the architects of form and nature, from the destiny of our planet to the creation forces of the universe. The tree’s roots grow through the lower world, where all life originates and the dead travel, its trunk and lower branches reach out across the middle world, where elemental forces and the four directions guide us, and its highest branches reach the into the upper world and the Star realm. Weaving together folk tradition and extensive academic research, Orion Foxwood has created an accessible, beautifully written pathway into the Old Religion of Faery Seership. Based on Appalachian traditions, Wiccan studies, Celtic oral traditions, and the Craft from Western and Northern Europe, The Tree of Enchantment offers the student of Faery Tradition both introductory and advanced visionary practices and authentic tools to learn to navigate the three realms of humanity. With diligence and an open heart, the reader will learn to cross The River of Blood, pass through The Gate of Awakening, and over The River of Stars.

“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith “A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.” —Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as "informed worship." Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.

A 75th anniversary e-book version of the most important and practical self-help book ever written, Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is a special deluxe edition of a book that has changed millions of lives and launched the modern recovery movement: Alcoholics Anonymous. This edition not only reproduces the original 1939 text of Alcoholics Anonymous, but as a special bonus features the complete 1941 Saturday Evening Post article “Alcoholics Anonymous” by journalist Jack Alexander, which, at the time, did as much as the book itself to introduce millions of seekers to AA’s program. Alcoholics Anonymous has touched and transformed myriad lives, and finally appears in a volume that honors its posterity and impact.

The fifth edition of Michael L. Morgan's Classics of Moral and Political Theory broadens the scope and increases the versatility of this landmark anthology by offering new selections from Aristotle's Politics, Aquinas' Disputed Questions on Virtue and Treatise on Law, as well as the entirety of Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration, Kant's To Perpetual Peace, and Nietzsche's On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life.

Since the first African American denomination was established in Philadelphia in 1818, churches have gone beyond their role as spiritual guides in African American communities and have served as civic institutions, spaces for education, and sites for the cultivation of individuality and identities in the face of limited or non-existent freedom. In this Very Short Introduction, Eddie S. Glaude Jr. explores the history and circumstances of African American religion through three examples: conjure, African American Christianity, and African American Islam. He argues that the phrase "African American religion" is meaningful only insofar as it describes how through religion, African Americans have responded to oppressive conditions including slavery, Jim Crow apartheid, and the pervasive and institutionalized discrimination that exists today. This bold claim frames his interpretation of the historical record of the wide diversity of religious experiences in the African American community. He rejects the common tendency to racialize African American religious experiences as an inherent proclivity towards religiousness and instead focuses on how religious communities and experiences have developed in the African American community and the context in which these developments took place. About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.

Against the Modern World is the first history of Traditionalism, an important yet surprisingly little-known twentieth-century anti-modern movement. Comprising a number of often secret but sometimes very influential religious groups in the West and in the Islamic world, it affected mainstream and radical politics in Europe and the development of the field of religious studies in the United States, touching the lives of many individuals. French writer Rene Guenon rejected modernity as a dark age and sought to reconstruct the Perennial Philosophy - the central truths behind all the major world religions. Guenon stressed the urgent need for the West's remaining spiritual and intellectual elite to find personal and collective salvation in the surviving vestiges of ancient religious traditions. A number of disenchanted intellectuals responded to his call. In Europe, America, and the Islamic world, Traditionalists founded institutes, Sufi brotherhoods, Masonic lodges, and secret societies. Some attempted unsuccessfully to guide Fascism and Nazism along Traditionalist lines; others later participated in political terror in Italy. Traditionalist ideas were the ideological cement for the alliance of anti-democratic forces in post-Soviet Russia, and in the Islamic world entered the debate about the relationship between Islam and modernity. Although its appeal in the West was ultimately limited, Traditionalism has wielded enormous influence in religious studies, through the work of such Traditionalists as Ananda Coomaraswamy, Huston Smith, Mircea Eliade, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr.

This book is a three-part journey into the rabbit hole we call the nature of reality. Its ultimate destination is a plausible, living validation of transcendence. Each of its three parts is like a turn of a spiral, exploring recurring ideas through the prisms of religious myth, truth and belief, respectively. With each turn, the book seeks to convey a more nuanced and complete understanding of the many facets of transcendence. Part I puts forward the controversial notion that many religious myths are actually true; and not just allegorically so. Part II argues that our own inner storytelling plays a surprising role in creating the seeming concreteness of things and the tangibility of history. Part III suggests, in the form of a myth, how deeply ingrained belief systems create the world we live in. The three themes, myth, truth and belief, flow into and interpenetrate each other throughout the book.

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Henosis is the Greek word for oneness/unity. Since time immemorial this universal concept has been championed within traditional wisdom, ancient philosophy and theology. The psychoanalyst, Carl Jung referred our shared human experience with the phrase “collective unconscious,” while physicists use the term “quantum entanglement” to describe how every particle is inherently connected to the whole. The missing links between the wisdom of ancient philosophy and the startling insights within modern psychology to transform suffering, transcend circumstances, and increase our capacity for love are explored in The Promise of Wholeness. Most philosophical studies of ancient wisdom lack practical applications, and many popular psychology books simply skim the surface of the human experience. Licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist Eric Ehrke offers a new foundation for profound living based on classical teachings and enriched by modern scientific/psychological breakthroughs. The principles and values it takes to be happy and whole endure, but gentle makeovers are needed to modernize the message. Clinical examples from Eric Ehrke’s forty years of psychotherapy practice and personal stories from courageous individuals are included throughout the book. Emphasizing innovative teachings, and new critical exercises for infantile, childish, and adolescent stress responses, Ehrke offers powerful meditations and invaluable tools for bringing these concepts and strategies into everyday life. Here, eternal wisdom, sound psychological principles, and practical solutions come together in this handbook of consciousness; a truly helpful guide for anyone seeking lasting peace and well-being.